Today I arrived home in my new, to me, GK29. A 220 nm trip which proved to be a steep learning curve with many highs and lows. We set off early Saturday to catch the tide and joined the busy shipping lanes of the Humber......just as a dense fog materialised. Not a pleasant experience. After runnning aground twice, we finally made it out of the estuary only to find dead calm and more fog. We motored for 8 hours until finally reaching Filey where we anchored up for the night totally fraught and exhausted. We didnt get a lot of sleep that night. It was the first time ever we'd anchored and we weren't sure that we'd done it properly. Next morning found us more or less in the same space. We set off northwards motor sailing as there was still very little wind. By the time we drew near to Whitby the wind picked up and we were goose winging our way at 9 knots. Not bad considering we were towing a dinghy. As we drew near to Hartlepool the wind increased dramatically and with only the genoa hurtled on our way. The GK29 is a fast boat. Hartlepool saw us make a complete mess of the lock system with Paka'a bouncing around from lock wall to lock wall - gel coat repair!
The next moring I single handed to Blyth. Good steady breeze and with only the genoa still managed 6.5 knots. Arrived in Blyth after dark and managed a text book berthing in between two other yachts. The next day I set off in a stiff breeze only to turn around after being hit with a 35 knot gust immediately upon leaving the harbour. Try again next day! Wednesday dawned and I set of again with a forecast of force 6 gusts. Straight up the north Northumberland coast with a reefed genoa - just in case. As I drew near to the Farne Islands the wind started to increase relentessly. Passing through the inner sound the wind increased to 26 knots gusting to 30. Paka'a just kept on going. Surfing down huge waves and heeled over at a crazy angle with everything crashing around inside. At one point I looked back to see the dinghy in mid air. Once I realised I wasnt going to die, it became almost enjoyable. Every now and then she would try to round up and I had to fight to keep her on the right course. I passed by a large group of tourists on the inner Farne looking down at me from their cliff top vantage point. They must have thought me mad. As I cleared the sound the wind dropped to 20 knots and remained so until I passed Lindisfarne. After that I was in home territory and could see my destination in the distance some 5 miles away. The wind dropped to 17 knots on my beam and I raised the main and hurtled along. The GK 29 is a well designed FAST boat. I made it into the estuary, motored up to the mooring and picked up the bouy first attempt lol Paka'a is a lovely yacht. Never did I feel out of control or that conditions were too much. That's down to the boat. I do feel very confident and quite proud of myself. No stopping me now.........just have to work out how that RM 69 heads is supposed to work!

Well done in getting your boat moved in not ideal conditions. Glad you enjoyed how she sailed compared to your old Folkboat.

Anchoring seems strange for a while, but provided you have enough scope out (3 times maximum depth for chain or 5 times for chain and warp) then the anchor should remain in place provided the bottom has good holding.

Regard to the gel coat chips, use Plastic Padding Gel Coat filler. This is a good match to the original gel coat and I have used it extensively on Concerto. Once filled, sand level and continue through increasingly finer wet and dry used wet. Then move to compounds and you will get a good shine before polish.